The boy at the stone
by life.rhapsody
Summary: KakaIru. Sequel/companion piece to "Come back home to us".


Disclaimer: Don't own.

AN: A little sequel type companion piece to "Come back home to us". This is referring back to the Epilogue.

* * *

_Kakashi walked up to the memorial one last time before his mission, his ANBU mask pushed away to one side, covering his left eye. He froze in his tracks when he caught sight of someone already at the memorial. Someone on their knees, their back to him. He scanned the person's back, the symbol on the white shirt in which fish nets peeked out from under the sleeves.  
_

_He studied the other, the bushy ponytail, the tanned skin. He furrowed his brow when he noticed the frame of the body tremble and realized that the other was crying, and trying to choke back his sobs. His gaze softened with sympathy and suddenly he felt as if he shouldn't be there. He stood there for a moment longer before he made up his mind and walked up to the stone, letting his presence be known, and giving the other visitor time to recollect himself. _

_He stood next to the other and glanced at him through the corner of his eye, but the other boy's bangs obscured his face from his angle. He sighed and looked at the stone instead, his eye falling on familiar names. He refrained from speaking out loud, or as loud as he usually spoke while he was alone and instead gave his lost ones silent prayers._

"_Friends? Family?" _

_The soft voice nearly made him jump out of surprise, he wasn't expecting for the other boy to talk, so when he did, it took him off guard. He looked glanced at the boy again and back at the stone, "Both." He saw the brunette give him a nod in understanding. "You?" he asked after a moment, not really being used to talking to others while at the memorial._

"_Family."_

_Kakashi nodded and again felt sympathy for the other boy. Another silence fell over them and Kakashi watched from the corner of his eye as the other boy reached over to the bouquet of flowers that were placed at the base of the stone, flowers that he recognized as Gillyflowers. He watched with curiosity as the boy handed him a short branch and timidly glanced up at him, meeting his gaze a second or less before lowering it again._

"_Here. It's Gillyflower…meaning Bonds of Affection."_

_A smile tugged on his masked lips as he took the short branch, 'Bonds of Affection, either of love or friendship,' he thought to himself._

"_It's…it's a gift…sort of speak, to the ones you've lost."_

_Kakashi looked down at the brunette, at the flowers, then back at the stone, "Thank you," he told the boy, who nodded in response. He placed the branch on top of the stone, grateful that it was heavy enough for it not to be blown away by a passing breeze. He took his spot next to the brunette and looked up as a crow called out, rounding them up. He sighed and glanced back down to the brunette, feeling like he needed to say something._

_The boy stood and dusted off his knees and kept his gaze to the stone, "Thank care of yourself, ANBU-san."_

_Another smile tugged on his lips, "You too," warm chocolate eyes turned to him, and the younger boy graced him with a smile –_

Kakashi snapped awake and sat up. He looked around the bedroom, a bit confused before looking down at his sleeping husband. Iruka stirred and fluttered his eyes open to blearily look up at him.

"Kakashi? What is it?"

"It was you," Kakashi said without thinking, "It _was _you."

Iruka blinked away the sleep from his eyes, "What?"

"At the memorial stone, when we were younger. It was you."

Iruka narrowed his eyes and looked up at the older man, his mind still waking up, "…what…?"

Kakashi turned, and braced himself on his elbow, "When you were younger, did you meet an ANBU member at the memorial stone?"

Iruka nodded, "And I gave you a branch of Gillyflower."

"Yeah, and you…wait – What?"

Iruka smiled, "I gave you a branch of Gillyflower," he repeated, "We didn't necessarily meet back then," he explained and ran a hand through the silver shock of hair, "But after that, I kept seeing you more often."

Kakashi blinked, "Are you serious?"

Iruka smiled, "You don't remember?"

Kakashi shook his head, furrowing his brows, "The other day when you were sparring with Minoru I thought I remembered you, but I wasn't really sure."

Iruka softly chuckled and pulled his husband closer, making him drop fully on the bed, "But now you do remember," he nuzzled the pale neck and chuckled, "Took you long enough."

Kakashi chuckled and wrapped his arms around the younger man as he rolled onto his back, pulling him flush to his side, "So, you always had an eye out for me?"

Iruka chuckled and kissed the older man's clavicle, "How could I forget…that silver hair."

Kakashi chuckled and kissed his husband's forehead, "Is that my only notable feature?"

"No, there's the mask too," Iruka said softly, chuckling at the sound his husband made, "And…," he lifted himself on an elbow and looked into the mismatched eyes, "Your eye."

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow, "My eye?" he grinned, "Is that what attracted you to me, Ruru?"

Iruka chuckled and nodded, "You could say that. But then, you digress."

"I thought it was a group effort," he chuckled as the younger man snuggled back against him, shifting until he was comfortable, "Ruru?"

"Hm?"

He kissed the crown of the brunette's head, "How come you never told me?"

"Hmm…"

He smiled as he looked down at his sleeping husband and threaded his fingers through the soft chocolate strands. He supposed it didn't really matter, "I love you, Ruru," he whispered with a smile.


End file.
